Home treatment can provide tremendous benefits for sufferers of chronic ailments such as renal failure. But there is potential for harm in the home setting that is offset in a clinical setting by the presence of trained staff. If a patient undergoing dialysis, for example, has a reaction due to unforeseen conditions, the staff can take immediate action to assist the patient, even if the patient loses consciousness. In the home, this role may be played by a trained assistant. The instructions and training associated with home use may be replete with admonitions against attempting to perform a treatment without following the requirement that the assistant be in attendance, but there is always a need for creative approaches that further help to ensure that such requirements are fulfilled.